Everything Search
MCP ServerFree** - Fast Windows file search using Everything SDK
Capabilities8 decomposed
cross-platform unified file search with platform-native backends
Medium confidenceImplements a SearchProvider abstraction pattern that routes search requests to platform-specific implementations: Windows Everything SDK for indexed full-text search, macOS Spotlight via mdfind subprocess for metadata-aware search, and Linux locate/plocate for filename indexing. The MCP server normalizes heterogeneous result formats into a unified SearchResult data model, allowing clients like Claude Desktop to issue a single search query that adapts to the host OS without knowing platform details.
Uses a SearchProvider interface pattern to abstract three fundamentally different search backends (Everything SDK C bindings, subprocess-based mdfind, subprocess-based locate) behind a single normalized API, with platform detection at runtime and result normalization into a unified SearchResult schema. This is architecturally distinct from generic file search tools because it leverages each OS's native indexing infrastructure for speed rather than implementing its own indexing.
Faster than generic Python file walkers (os.walk) by 100-1000x on large filesystems because it uses OS-native indexed search; more portable than platform-specific tools because it abstracts backend differences behind MCP protocol.
windows everything sdk integration with advanced query syntax
Medium confidenceWraps the Windows Everything SDK C library through Python bindings to execute full-text indexed searches with support for advanced query operators (wildcards, boolean operators, date/size filters, regex patterns). The WindowsSearchProvider translates normalized search parameters into Everything query syntax, executes queries via the SDK, and maps Everything result objects (with fields like path, size, modified_time, attributes) into the unified SearchResult format. Queries execute against Everything's real-time index, providing sub-millisecond latency on indexed content.
Directly integrates Everything SDK C bindings (not subprocess-based) for native performance, translates normalized MCP parameters into Everything's proprietary query syntax (supporting operators, filters, regex), and handles Everything-specific result mapping including file attributes and metadata. This is architecturally different from subprocess-based search tools because it uses direct SDK calls for lower latency and richer metadata access.
10-100x faster than Windows built-in search (Windows Search) because Everything maintains a real-time NTFS journal index; supports more advanced query syntax than generic file APIs (os.scandir) because it leverages Everything's query language.
macos spotlight search via mdfind subprocess with metadata queries
Medium confidenceImplements MacSearchProvider that spawns mdfind (macOS Spotlight command-line interface) as a subprocess to execute metadata-aware searches. Translates normalized search parameters into mdfind query syntax, captures subprocess output, parses results, and normalizes them into SearchResult format. Supports Spotlight's metadata query capabilities (e.g., searching by file kind, creation date, author) in addition to filename/content search. Results reflect Spotlight's indexed metadata, providing fast search on macOS without requiring additional indexing infrastructure.
Uses subprocess-based mdfind integration (not direct API) to access Spotlight's metadata indexing, translating normalized MCP parameters into mdfind query syntax. This approach avoids direct Spotlight API complexity but adds subprocess overhead. Supports Spotlight-specific metadata queries (kind, created, author) that are unavailable on other platforms.
Faster than generic macOS file enumeration (os.walk) because it uses Spotlight's pre-built index; more portable than direct Spotlight API calls because mdfind is a stable command-line interface; requires no additional installation unlike Everything on Windows.
linux locate/plocate filename search with pattern matching
Medium confidenceImplements LinuxSearchProvider that executes locate or plocate commands via subprocess to search a pre-built filename database. Translates normalized search parameters into locate/plocate syntax (glob patterns, regex), captures subprocess output, parses results, and normalizes into SearchResult format. The locate database is maintained by the updatedb command (typically run daily via cron) and provides extremely fast filename-only search without requiring real-time indexing. Falls back to plocate (faster variant) if available, otherwise uses locate.
Integrates Linux's standard locate/plocate tools via subprocess, with automatic fallback from plocate (faster, more modern) to locate (universal availability). Database is externally maintained via updatedb cron jobs, not by the MCP server itself. This is architecturally simpler than Everything or Spotlight because it relies on a pre-built static database rather than real-time indexing.
Much faster than os.walk on large filesystems because it uses a pre-built database; more portable across Linux distributions than custom indexing solutions; requires no additional installation beyond standard locate package.
mcp protocol server implementation with stdio-based communication
Medium confidenceImplements an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes the search tool through stdio-based bidirectional communication. The server handles MCP protocol framing, tool registration, parameter validation, and result serialization. Clients (like Claude Desktop) communicate with the server by sending JSON-RPC requests over stdin/stdout, and the server responds with tool results. The server detects the host platform at startup and initializes the appropriate SearchProvider backend, maintaining a single search tool interface across all platforms.
Implements MCP server pattern with platform detection at startup and dynamic SearchProvider initialization. Uses stdio-based JSON-RPC communication (not HTTP or WebSocket) to integrate with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients. Abstracts platform-specific search backends behind a single MCP tool interface, allowing clients to issue identical search requests regardless of OS.
More portable than HTTP-based search APIs because it uses stdio (works in sandboxed environments); simpler than custom protocol implementations because it follows MCP standard; integrates directly with Claude Desktop without requiring separate API server.
normalized search result formatting and schema validation
Medium confidenceImplements a SearchResult data model that normalizes heterogeneous results from Windows Everything SDK, macOS mdfind, and Linux locate into a unified schema with fields: path (full filesystem path), name (filename only), size (bytes, null if unavailable), modified_time (ISO 8601 string, null if unavailable), is_directory (boolean), match_type (string: 'filename' or 'path'). Each platform provider maps its native result format to this schema before returning to the client. The schema includes validation to ensure all results conform to expected types and formats.
Defines a minimal but sufficient SearchResult schema that captures the intersection of capabilities across three heterogeneous backends (Everything SDK, mdfind, locate). Uses null values for unavailable fields rather than platform-specific optional fields, simplifying client-side handling. Schema is immutable and validated at construction time to prevent invalid results from reaching clients.
Simpler than platform-specific result objects because it removes OS-specific fields; more predictable than returning raw backend results because it enforces a consistent schema; easier to serialize to JSON for MCP protocol than complex native objects.
parameter translation and query syntax adaptation
Medium confidenceImplements parameter translation logic that converts normalized MCP search parameters (query string, max_results, match_case, match_whole_word, match_regex, sort_by) into platform-specific query syntax. Each SearchProvider subclass translates these parameters into the native query language: Windows Everything query syntax (operators, filters, regex), macOS mdfind syntax (metadata queries, glob patterns), or Linux locate/plocate syntax (glob patterns, regex). The translation layer handles incompatibilities (e.g., regex support varies by platform) and falls back to safe defaults when a parameter is unsupported on a given platform.
Implements parameter translation as a per-platform concern within each SearchProvider subclass, rather than a centralized translation layer. This allows each platform to handle incompatibilities gracefully (e.g., falling back to substring search if regex is unsupported). Translation is lossy by design: unsupported parameters are silently ignored rather than raising errors, prioritizing robustness over strict validation.
More flexible than strict parameter validation because it allows partial parameter support per platform; simpler than a centralized translation layer because logic is co-located with platform-specific code; more robust than raising errors on unsupported parameters because it degrades gracefully.
platform detection and dynamic searchprovider initialization
Medium confidenceImplements platform detection logic that runs at MCP server startup to identify the host OS (Windows, macOS, or Linux) and instantiate the appropriate SearchProvider subclass (WindowsSearchProvider, MacSearchProvider, or LinuxSearchProvider). Uses Python's sys.platform or platform.system() to detect OS, then initializes the corresponding provider with any required configuration (e.g., Everything SDK path on Windows). The initialized provider is stored as a module-level singleton and reused for all subsequent search requests, avoiding repeated platform detection overhead.
Uses a simple platform detection pattern (sys.platform check) at server startup to initialize a singleton SearchProvider instance. This approach is stateless and deterministic: the same OS always results in the same provider. No runtime platform switching or provider fallback logic; if the detected provider's backend is unavailable, the server fails fast.
Simpler than runtime provider selection because detection happens once at startup; more efficient than per-request platform detection because it avoids repeated OS checks; more portable than hardcoded platform-specific code because it uses standard Python platform detection.
Capabilities are decomposed by AI analysis. Each maps to specific user intents and improves with match feedback.
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Best For
- ✓AI agent developers building cross-platform tools in Claude Desktop or other MCP clients
- ✓Teams deploying LLM-powered file discovery tools across Windows, macOS, and Linux environments
- ✓Developers who need sub-millisecond file search performance without implementing OS-specific code
- ✓Windows developers building file discovery agents that need extreme speed
- ✓Teams using Claude Desktop on Windows who want to leverage Everything's indexed search
- ✓Power users familiar with Everything query syntax who want to expose that capability to AI agents
- ✓macOS developers building file discovery agents who want native Spotlight integration
- ✓Teams using Claude Desktop on macOS who want to leverage built-in Spotlight indexing
Known Limitations
- ⚠Windows requires Everything service running and SDK DLL installed; search quality depends on Everything's indexing state
- ⚠macOS Spotlight search may be slow on first run if index is rebuilding; no control over indexing frequency
- ⚠Linux locate/plocate requires manual database updates via updatedb; cannot search files added since last index refresh
- ⚠Query syntax differs per platform (Windows supports regex/operators, macOS supports metadata queries, Linux supports glob patterns only)
- ⚠Result ordering varies by platform; sort_by parameter (1-14) maps differently across backends
- ⚠Requires Everything service to be running; if service is stopped, all searches fail
Requirements
Input / Output
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** - Fast Windows file search using Everything SDK
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